It is difficult to imagine a more trying set of circumstances in which a knife-edge British general election should be coming to a head.

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Worries over the Greek crisis’ effect on the economic recovery sent markets plunging.

The Dow crashed 9% earlier amidst concern over the spiralling debt crisis in the eurozone. It was the biggest single fall since 1987 – although the market has now recovered a good chunk of the losses. Some of the panic seems to have been caused by a giant botched trade or electronic glitch.

Here in London, some trading starts in London at 1am because of the election. If traders were jittery about the potential for chaos in the event of a hung parliament before, it is hard to imagine them being any more sanguine now.

Against this backdrop, counting of votes will begin shortly after 10pm when polling stations close. A clear result would be welcomed by the markets. Chaos on the election front is not likely to be popular with traders here or elsewhere.